


Janie Gets Her Gun

by AGJ1990



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:53:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25780138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AGJ1990/pseuds/AGJ1990
Summary: John Winchester has hunted hundreds of ghosts. But this one is different. He knows it will be a harder case than most, but he welcomes the challenge to get his mind of his youngest son's departure to Stanford. When he gets to town, John realizes that there's something there much more evil than a simple spirit.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a direct prequel to Janie's Got a Gun.

**A/N: This story is the direct prequel to Janie’s Got a Gun. John pulls into town on what he thinks is just a hunt and finds out that there’s a lot more to the haunting than meets the eye.**

**I will not give out plot points, but I will say this-this story is rated M for a very good reason. Janie is abused by her father in this story. I will not detail the abuse in my writing, but I do go into detail about the effects of the abuse on Janie. Just like Janie’s Got a Gun, this is a dark story. Darker than many of the others that I’ve written before. This story also deals, in this chapter, with suicidal thoughts. Please proceed with extreme caution if there is a chance that reading any of this could trigger something in you.**

**As I’ve said before on my last few stories, I hope everyone is staying safe and staying healthy.**

John Winchester had long ago stopped being bothered by silence. He spent his time on long car trips alone going over and over the details of what he was about to do. The job was the most important thing right now.

But John was lying if he tried to convince himself he didn’t miss it. The bickering between the boys over what he saw was the stupidest things. The two of them laughing over things they didn’t dare share with their father. Sam fighting him over having to move again. Dean asking him question after question after question about the hunt.

Those days were over, and though he wouldn’t admit it, it hurt to think about.

Sam was gone. He was enjoying his life at Stanford, and John had accepted that long ago. He had just left from a trip to make sure Sammy was okay, when he’d gotten a call from Bobby about a hunt. People were seeing a woman around town that would appear, stand there for up to a minute, then leave. 

The puzzling thing was _where_ the woman was appearing. She would appear at the local school, the local diner, on the hiking trail just outside of town, and various other points around town. John felt certain the woman was a ghost, even though he couldn’t put his finger on why he thought that. But if she was a ghost, why was she appearing in multiple places?

Another hour passed, and John was finally pulling into town. The town seemed just like so many of the other little towns he had worked in over the course of his hunting tenure. There was a diner off to the side, which seemed to be one of the main attractions in town. Further down the street was a post office, a couple of houses, the local bank, library, school, doctor’s office, and various other shops. It was close to eight in the morning, so there were kids everywhere heading to school. Some were walking, a few were running, and some were being dropped off by their parents.

John parked the truck outside of the diner, glad his drive was finally over. He pulled out his materials that he’d put together on the hunt, then decided at the last minute to hide them in the truck and take a break. Stepping out of the truck and onto the pavement below, John immediately felt as if he was being watched. The feeling made his hair stand up and his hand went straight to his gun. He pulled it back when he saw what gave him what Dean would’ve called the ‘heebie geebies’.

Across the street stood a girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen by John’s judgment, taking as close a look at him as she could. The girl looked pitiful. She was dressed in a tattered shirt with rips and holes and jeans that looked too big for her. She was thin and pale. When she noticed John looking back at her, she panicked. John could see her shaking from all the way across the street. He didn’t know what made him do it, but John smiled and waved at her before heading inside.

“Hey there, sweetie. Grab a table anywhere, I’ll be right with you.”

Within thirty seconds, John remembered why he didn’t take breaks too often. His mind drifted immediately back to Sam. He tried to distract himself by looking a little deeper into the hunt and questioning his waitress, but that only told him things he already knew. John headed to the library to do some research, where he found the most likely culprit behind the ghost sightings.

Sabrina Foster.

She had died four years earlier when she lost control of her car and skidded off a bridge. The accident was deemed suspicious, but after a long and extensive investigation, no further action was taken. She was survived by a husband, Leon, and a now fifteen-year-old daughter, Janie. John stared at the picture of Sabrina Foster’s family for nearly a full minute before he realized why the little girl looked familiar.

She was the one that had been staring at him earlier that morning.

John’s mind shifted away from Sam at that moment and to the little girl. The Janie in the photo looked drastically different from the one he’d seen on the road earlier. Sabrina and Leon, in the photo, were dressed immaculately. Leon was in a crisp black suit with a white dress shirt and black tie. Sabrina was in a white dress decorated with small red flowers. Janie looked to be around ten years old, in a sky blue dress with pink polka dots. She had a ridiculously cute lopsided grin and was holding one hand each of her mother and father. The photo had been used for Sabrina’s obituary, and John checked to see if he could find the date it had been taken. Almost one year to the day of Sabrina’s death.

A story started to form in John’s mind. He of course couldn’t be sure that the story was correct, but in his experience, it probably was. Sabrina had died in a suspicious accident, and Leon had stopped taking care of Janie the way that he should. The question, for John, was what had happened in the year between the photo being taken and Sabrina’s death? John’s first thought, the one he hoped was wrong since Janie was still living at home, was that Leon had killed his wife and she was either looking for revenge or looking to protect her child.

With the ghost likely identified, and the likely reason that the ghost was appearing now obvious to him, John felt fully ready to proceed. He left the library, booked a room in town, put his things away, then proceeded to the house of Leon Foster.

As John was interviewing Leon, Janie was on her way home from school. She was walking slowly, trying to avoid getting back to the house that no longer felt like a home. Even when she was there alone, and her father was either at work or out drinking, all she saw were reminders of her mother. The wallpaper her mother had picked out two years before she died still hung in the living room. The pink comforter Janie slept with every night that had been a ‘just because’ gift when her mother and father fought so much that her father actually left the house for a few days. The pictures that Janie had drawn for her mother that still hung on the refrigerator, that for whatever reason her father had never thrown out. Those and a thousand other things hung all over the house, both comforting Janie in the moments she missed her mother the most and hurting her deeply at the same time.

When her father was at home, Janie had learned to shut herself down. She couldn’t feel anything or she was afraid she’d explode. For the first two years after her mother’s death, Janie was afraid of her father’s every move. He had transformed from a loving, fun dad to a distant, withdrawn father over the course of only a few months. After her mother’s death, Leon had transformed again, this time into a full fledged monster.

Her life had become regimented in a way that would have made the most hardened prison warden proud. Set her alarm clock to wake up one hour before her father so she could quickly get dressed and get her school things together. Make her father a hot breakfast before quickly making herself a bowl of cereal and wash out the bowl, then drying it and putting it back in the cabinet so he didn’t catch her ‘eating without permission’. Doing anything without her father’s express permission was a cardinal sin in her house, punishable by anything from a quick slap to the face to him dragging her back up the stairs and to her room for a painful ‘reminder of the rules in this house’ with his belt. The severity of the punishment depended entirely on her father’s mood, and Janie had found that his mood greatly improved if she had breakfast ready and waiting for him.

After breakfast, her father decided if she could go to school or not. He’d learned early on not to keep her out of school too much, or the ‘nosy bitch teachers’ would call CPS on him and ‘put their ugly noses where they didn’t belong’. But if he was in an exceptionally foul mood, and had ‘really given you what you deserved’ to Janie in the morning rather than just waiting for her to come home in the afternoon, Janie didn’t go to school. She was locked in her bedroom until her father came home from work and told to ‘shut up crying before I give you a real reason to cry’.

Janie didn’t know when her father left for work. She knew there were more days than not that he didn’t go to work, and she wondered why he hadn’t been fired yet. Then she wondered if maybe he _had_ been fired, and maybe that was the reason for his sudden change in attitude towards her. But most afternoons, her father was not home when she got back from school, and it was a blessed break for her. She was supposed to start immediately cleaning the house and working on dinner, but Janie always took a thirty minute nap after school.

It was during this thirty minute nap Janie always dreamed about her mother. Her memories seemed unusually clear, but they always brought a peace to her. Without that peace, Janie decided, she long ago would have jumped off the same bridge from where her mother had died in an attempt to be together with her Mommy again.

Janie shuddered to think what would happen if her father ever caught her taking one of these naps. But so far, he never had.

It was eight hours of hell for Janie, just like it was every other day. The taunts stayed the same. Look at her. Sad little Janie Foster. With her crazy father Leon. And the worst one of all to Janie, he killed her mother. Janie didn’t want to believe it, but with the way her father’s attitude had turned towards her, she feared it could be true. Janie opened the door and closed it right away. She started to head up to her room when she heard it.

“Janie.”

Janie jumped again and turned around. What was her father doing home? He didn’t usually get home until after dinner. Would Janie be in trouble for being late? It was 3:45 and she was supposed to be home “not one minute past 3:30 or it’ll be hard for you to sit for a month.” But all those thoughts were chased from her head when she realized that they weren’t alone. There was a man in the living room with her father, one that Janie had seen before but took a few seconds to place.

“Hi.”

“Hi there.” The man said.

Janie realized where she’d seen him before. “I saw you at the diner this morning.”

“That’s right.” He said with a smile. “I’m John.”

“Janie.”

“Janie. Don’t you have homework?” Leon asked.

Her father’s stern tone brought Janie’s attempt at normal conversation to a screeching halt. “No sir. I did it all during study period.”

“Then get up to your room. You’re still grounded.”

Janie’s heart dropped. She wasn’t grounded, at least that he’d told her. He was trying to be nice for the company and not draw suspicion to them.

“Yes, sir.”

“Actually, Mr. Foster, you mind if I ask Janie some questions? The same ones I asked you?” John asked.

Janie could tell he wanted to say no, but Leon nodded his consent.

“Okay, thanks. Janie, have you noticed anything weird going on lately?”

“Weird? Like what?” She asked.

“Like lights flickering? Cold spots anywhere? Do you feel like someone’s maybe watching you?”

“No.” Janie said. “Not that I remember.”

“Okay. Well, listen, I’m staying at the Fox Motel, room 337. If you do think of anything, will you call me? You can call me anytime, day or night.”

“I’ll call.” Janie said.

“Alright. I’ll get out of your hair now. It was nice to meet you both.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Janie said.

Janie smiled as John went out the door. He was the first person in a long while to show her any kindness. Even though it was just a smile and a slight conversation, it was enough. When the door closed and the truck drove away, Janie turned and started to head to her room like her father had said. Before she got a few inches, she was knocked to the floor by the back of her father’s open hand. Her father may have been a slow, clumsy drunk, but he moved fast when he wanted to hit her.

“You should be ashamed of yourself. Flirting with a man older than me.”

“Daddy, please, I didn’t.” Janie said, hand to her cheek to try and rub away the pain.

“Get up to your room. Now. Do not come out until I tell you you can.” Leon said.

“Can I please eat something fir…”

In a flash, Leon had pulled Janie up from the floor, held her around the waist, and was spanking her hard and fast. It didn’t take long to get her to the point of crying and begging.

“Daddy, please, I’m sorry…”

“Get to your room. Now.” Leon said again, still swatting. “I tell you one more time and you won’t leave that room for a week. Understand?”

“Yes, sir! Daddy, please, please stop!”

Leon finally let her go, but Janie knew better than to think it was over.

“Go. I’ll be up soon.”

“Yes, sir.” Janie somehow managed to get out.

Still crying, Janie ran to her room and threw herself on her bed. She knew what it meant when Leon said he’d be up soon. It only meant one of two things, one bad and one worse. She only hoped for a few minutes break before he made his choice. She pulled out from under pillow a photograph she kept there. It was of her, her mother, and her father on her fourth birthday. Her mother was trying to wipe her face with a wet rag, as it was covered in birthday cake. Her father was holding her, and helping her avoid her mother. They were all laughing, even though her mother was pretending to be annoyed.

“Mommy, I need you back. I can’t do this anymore. Please help me.”

_I’m here, Janie. It’s almost over. Mommy’s here._

The voice was so weak that Janie didn’t dare hope it was real. She didn’t dare hope that the hand she felt rubbing her back was real either. All too soon, her bedroom door opened. Janie thought about trying to pretend to be asleep, but she doubted it would do any good. Leon stood there, folded belt in his hand.

“Get up.”


	2. Chapter 2

It was two in the morning, and again, Janie was alone. Alone and in pain.

Janie was used to hurting after her father was done with her. What she couldn’t get used to was feeling absolutely stupid every time. Stupid that she didn’t see it coming. Her father had been following her. That was how he knew she’d seen John and waved at him that morning. That was why he’d been home when she got home today instead of gone like he usually was. He was planning to confront her about it anyway, and John showing up and talking to her had just given him more incentive.

Janie had finally stopped crying and was just about to drift off to sleep when she felt it. Someone was sitting on her bed, rubbing a hand up and down her back. She felt herself tense up, thinking it was her father, then realized that he wouldn’t care about being gentle with her. Only one other person had ever sat on her bed like that before.

“Shh. Mommy’s here, baby.”

Janie turned and her mouth dropped. There, in full and living color, was her mother. Sabrina knelt down to the floor and in front of Janie, wiping away the tears that fell down.

“Mommy?” Janie whispered. Even in shock, she was terrified of her father hearing her.

Sabrina smiled. “Hi, baby. I’ve missed you.”

“Are you really here?”

“I am. I came to help you.”

“I can’t talk to you.”   
  


“What? Why?”

“Daddy’ll hear me.”

“Don’t worry about that. Your daddy can’t hear us.” Sabrina promised. “You can say anything you want.”

“How do you know?”

“Mommy knows everything.” Sabrina said.

Janie smiled. “You always said that.”

“I always meant it too.” Sabrina said. “I’m sorry you’re hurting, honey.”

Janie felt her eyes fill up with tears again. “He hates me, Mommy.”

“I wish I could tell you that wasn’t true. But it’s not.”

When Janie let out a choked sob, Sabrina kissed Janie’s hand and put one finger on the bridge of Janie’s nose. After a few seconds, Janie found herself smiling.

“That’s what I like to see. My baby girl happy.”

“I haven’t felt happy in a long time.”

“I know. Listen to me, baby. I need you to listen to me and do exactly what I tell you. Okay? If you do, I promise you you’ll be okay.”

“What do you want me to do?” Janie asked.

“When you get up in the morning, act just like it’s a school day.”

“But it’s not and if daddy finds out, he’ll…”

“I know what your daddy will do. And he will find out, honey. But you need to listen to me and do what I say. If you do, then by this time tomorrow, you’ll be away from your father.”

Could it be true? Could Janie really leave her father and be safe? Was there really anyone in the world that would love her the way her father was supposed to?

“Where am I gonna go?”

“I can’t tell you that. I just need you to trust me. Will you do that, Janie?”

After a long pause, Janie nodded.

“Okay. Good girl. Now, like I said, when you get up in the morning, act like it’s a school day. Make your father’s breakfast and eat some for yourself. Take your backpack and leave just like always. But go down to the diner. Sit in the booth you and me used to sit in when I took you for breakfast. Do you remember?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Sit there and wait. Wait for the man that came to visit you and your father earlier.”

“John?”

“Yes. When he gets there, talk to him. Tell him you’ve seen me and tell him everything.”

Janie’s heart froze and she shook her head. “No. I can’t tell him all that.”

“Janie, listen to me. Do what I’m telling you to do, okay? You have to do exactly like I’m telling you.”

“I can’t tell him, Mommy. I can’t tell anybody…”

“Baby, I already know. I know about all of it.”   
  


Janie broke down crying again. There were parts of her relationship with her father that even she refused to acknowledge. But if her mother knew, surely that meant that this was all a dream, and there was no way Janie was getting out of this. Ever.

“You hate me too, don’t you?”

“Janie Elizabeth, listen to me and listen to me good. You are my baby girl. You are beautiful, you are smart, you are loving, and you deserve the world. You do not deserve anyone hurting you like this ever. I do not hate you. I don’t have it in me to hate you. I love you more than anything else on this entire earth. That cannot and never will change. Do you understand me?”

Janie nodded. “I love you too, Mommy.”

“I’ve heard you. All those nights you stayed up crying for me, I did hear you. I’m sorry it took so long for me to reach you and do something about it, but I’m here now. And I need you to trust me and just do what I’m asking tomorrow. Okay? Get up in the morning and go to the café. Talk to John. I can’t say how he’ll do it, because I don’t really know myself, but he will get you out of here and safe again. Promise me you’ll do it.”

“I promise.”

Sabrina smiled again. “That’s my good girl.”

“Do you have to go?”

“I can’t stay here all night, sweetie.”

“Can you hold me till I fall asleep?”

“That I can do.”

“Mommy? Are you the one that sends the dreams?” Janie asked. “The ones I have when I’m asleep after school?”

“Yep. You like them?”

“I love them.”

“And I love you. Now go to sleep, baby bunny. You want me to sing to you?”

“Yes, please.”

Janie fell asleep to her mother’s gentle, soothing voice, and all the pain and heartache she’d felt earlier seemed to subside. When her alarm clock rang four hours later, she was surprised to find herself refreshed and ready for the day. She remembered the instructions from the night before, and decided she really didn’t have much to lose by following them. She made her breakfast, but was so nervous she didn’t eat it. She made breakfast for her father, and started out the door with her backpack in her hand when she got an idea. Her hand on the doorknob to leave, Janie turned back to the living room, where her father was sitting in his recliner with a beer already in his hand.

“Daddy?”

Leon, annoyed with the interruption, snapped, “What?”

Janie gathered her courage by taking a deep breath and gripping the doorknob tightly. She put her backpack down and walked over to her father and did something she hadn’t done in years. She kissed his cheek and gave him a hug.

“I love you.”

Janie waited for the rage attack to start. The order to leave the house and get to school ‘before I whip you so hard you never stop feeling it’, as he’d threatened her the morning before. The slap to the face for wasting time. Anything to show Janie that she was nothing to him, confirming for her what her mother had already confirmed the night before.

None of that came. Janie felt her father hesitate, something he never did when it came to her. She felt his hand come up halfway to her back, and for a moment, she was afraid he would pull her hair and hurt her again right there. But all he did instead was tentatively pat her back.

“Go on, get to school.”

Janie left the house for the diner wondering if she should abandon the plan. Walk back to her house and beg her father’s forgiveness for not telling him school was out for the day. Take whatever punishment he doled out on her, then do what she was supposed to do in the first place. She was confused. While she did want to get away from Leon, she felt a strange guilt about leaving him alone. He was the only parent she had. Besides, her mother was dead. The dream the night before had been just that. A dream. It couldn’t be real, which meant that everything her mother had to say to her couldn’t be real either.

Right?

Janie made up her mind before going into the diner. She would stay like she’d planned, and she would talk to John about her mother’s ghost, but she wouldn’t tell him anything about her father. He was a stranger and didn’t need to know anyway. _He won’t even care about that,_ Janie thought.

A few hours later, after the owner of the diner had asked Janie over and over if she was sure she didn’t want anything to eat or drink, John walked in. He noticed her in the corner by herself and walked over. Janie felt butterflies in her stomach, and tried hard not to squirm. She was still in pain from her father’s punishment the night before.

“Hey there. Mind if I join you?”


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Warning-this chapter contains a violent encounter between Janie and Leon. He finds out something about Janie and goes after her.** _

_“Hi, there.”_

_Janie jumped and looked up to see John looking down at her. She had been so focused on what she was going to say to John that she had forgotten how big and intimidating the man truly was. The thought crossed her mind that, if she was completely honest with John right then, he would make short work of passing some of the hurt her father had caused her back onto him. She scrapped that thought and faked a smile._

_“Hi.”_

_“Can I join you?” John asked._

_At least he’s friendly,_ _Janie thought. “Sure. I actually came to talk to you.”_

_“You did?”_

_“Yeah. Are you busy?” Janie asked._

_“I was just about to have some lunch. You want to join me?”_

_Janie nodded. “Yes, please.”_

_As John sat, he noticed that Janie wasn’t really looking him in the eye. Every time he got close to her, she would pull away. He also noticed her squirming. He’d thought about her the night before. All night he’d thought about her. She was far too quiet, too shy, and too timid for his liking. He opened a menu, about to offer to buy Janie lunch, when she made a casual observation._

_“I can tell you’re not from this town.”_

_John chuckled. “How’s that?”_

_“’Cause you actually like me.”_

_The matter of fact way she said it made the smile drop off John’s face immediately. “What does that mean, Janie?”_

_Janie realized that she’d gotten too comfortable with this stranger and shook her head. “Nothing. Never mind.”_

_Not wanting to push her away, John decided to let it go. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”_

_“Yeah. I, um, I didn’t exactly tell you the truth yesterday.”_

_“About what?” John asked, even though he already knew. Janie squirmed some more, and John wondered if she was nervous. “Janie, it’s okay. I’m not mad. You’d be surprised how often people lie to me about that.”_

_“You asked if I’d seen anything weird.”_

_“Have you?” John asked._

_Janie took a deep breath. “Yes. But I’m afraid to tell you.”_

_“Why?”_

_“You won’t believe me.” Janie said._

_“Try me.”_

_Tears pooled in Janie’s eyes. “I think it’s my mom.”_

  
“Whoa, whoa. Here.” John pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Why do you think it’s your mom?”

_“I think she’s trying to protect me.”_

_“Protect you from what, sweetheart?” John asked. When Janie nodded her head furiously, John realized what she was trying not to tell him. He lowered his voice to avoid embarrassing her. “Is your father hurting you?”_

_“No.” Janie said much too quickly to be believed. “No, we just…we fight sometimes.”_

_“Janie, if your father is hurting you, I can help you get out of here. Get away from him and someplace safe.”_

_“He’s not hurting me!” Janie said again, a little too loudly._

_“Okay, okay, fine.” John said. “Then why do you think it’s your mother?”_

_“I’ve been…hearing her. When I’m in my room crying after my dad and I fight. I’ll feel her sometimes, too. Rubbing my back to make me feel better, putting her arm around me.”_

_“A lot of us feel like we hear and see people we love that have died.” John said._

_“My mom died over three years ago. And I haven’t just been feeling her.”_

_“You’ve seen her?”_

_“Yes. In my room last night. I was crying and I saw her.” Janie said. “She was kneeling next to my bed, wiping my face and telling me I was going to be okay.”_

_John’s heart, hardened by years of hunting ghosts like this, cracked and almost shattered at the way this poor child was so obviously hurting and in distress. He had assumed that the ghost was malevolent, but maybe it was there to comfort and soothe Janie._

_“She was a ghost, wasn’t she?”_

_John nodded. “Yeah, sweetie, she was.”_

_“I didn’t think ghosts were real.”_

_“They are.” John said. “In fact, that’s what I do. I hunt ghosts.”_

_Janie looked up at him, alarmed, but before she could say anything, the front door to the diner opened. Her furious father was storming towards her at the table. He grabbed Janie’s arm and whispered softly under his breath._

_“Get your ass in the car. Now.”_

_“There’s no need for that, Mr. Foster. Janie and I were just having a little chat…”_

_“You stay the hell away from my daughter and out of this!” Leon said to John just as viciously._

_“Janie lied to me about school today, she knows the punishment for that.”_

_“John, please, please don’t make this worse…”_

_“I said, GET YOUR ASS IN MY CAR RIGHT NOW!”_

_Leon turned and swatted Janie once, but the embarrassment of being in a public place made the swat sting a hundred times worse. John, as hard as it was, respected her request and left it alone. He heard Janie begging her father to just let her walk, but Leon dragged her to the car and threw her roughly into the passenger’s seat. John fought the urge to follow them, run the car off the road, rescue Janie and shoot the bastard in the head. He made up his mind that no matter what happened, he would be leaving that town with her._

As the car stopped and Leon walked around, Janie found herself regretting not telling John the truth. This would be the day that she always feared. Anger was her father’s default expression, but she’d never seen him rage the way he had at the diner. Her father seemed blissfully ignorant of his reputation in town as a degenerate and drunk, and until today, had never done anything to her in public. He was losing what little bit of self-control he had.

_This is it,_ Janie thought as Leon yanked open the car door and pulled her out. The day that her father would either cripple or kill her.

Instead of immediately starting in on her, Leon did something that actually surprised Janie. Something he’d only done a few times before. He pulled her around to the back of the house, and opened a door that Janie hadn’t seen in months. Janie never fought her father, mostly since it would only result in more hurt for her, but today she fought with all her strength to get away.

“No, Daddy, no, no, please…”

“Shut up.” Leon opened the door, which led down into the basement of the house, and pulled Janie down the stairs.

In happier times, the basement of the house had been a place Janie couldn’t wait to get to. Her mother and father had turned it into a playroom just after Janie’s fifth birthday. Janie remembered many afternoons with her mother and father in the basement, playing dolls or dress up or any other games Janie thought up. In one of her father’s crueler punishments, he had ripped the playroom apart, thrown out all of Janie’s old toys, and locked her in the basement for the first of three times. What had once been a bright, colorful place for Janie to play had now been turned into a dark, damp, bug and rat mouse infested hole in the ground. Leon threw Janie down and closed the door behind him.

“What the hell were you doing with him?”

“I wasn’t doing anything…”

“STOP LYING!” Leon shouted. “Tell me now, what were you doing with him?”

“I just…” Janie swallowed, trying to come up with a believable lie. “I didn’t go to meet him. I just went to the café for the day and he came in for lunch. We were just talking, I swear.”

“So you’re not gonna tell me. Okay, that’s fine. You can stay down here until you do.”

“What about school?” Janie asked.

“Do you think I’m stupid? I ran into your teacher in town. You’re out of school for a long weekend. If you decide to be stubborn, then you’ll be sick for a few days. You aren’t going anywhere.”

So he wasn’t going to hit her. He was going to starve her. As Leon left, and Janie heard the door locking behind him, she felt the fear finally start to grip her. She heard a phone ringing in the distance, and hit her knees trying to take deep breaths and stop herself from hyperventilating.

“Mommy, I messed up. I didn’t listen to you. I’m sorry. Help me out of here and I swear I will.”

_Look up Janie._

Janie looked up and directly in front of her was an old piece of wood. She didn’t know where it had come from or how long it had been there. Just as her mind registered the board’s exact location, the basement door flew open again and her father was back. Before she could say anything, Leon had pulled her up and had her by the collar.

“You stupid, stupid bitch.”

“Daddy? What…?”

“Don’t. Don’t say a word. That was your school nurse on the phone.”

A slap to the cheek, somewhat harder than she was used to, but nothing that hadn’t happened before. _So he’s changed his mind,_ Janie thought. She somehow managed to stay standing and dared to disobey her father.

“What did she say?”

“I said for you to shut up.”

A punch to the nose, and Janie was leaning against the wall. A bitter taste in her mouth made Janie spit. She saw blood on the ground where she’d spit before Leon picked her up and punched again, this time in the eye and knocking her to the floor. Janie let out a cry, which only seemed to further enrage her father.

“Have you been getting sick? Throwing up?”

Janie, thrown by the question, looked up at Leon. “What?”

“Don’t act stupid. Answer the question.”

“No, sir. I haven’t been getting sick.”

Another slap to the cheek, and Janie was pulled back up again. “Don’t lie.”

“I’m not. I swear. I haven’t been sick.”

“You’re about to be.” Leon said bitterly. “The ER called your school nurse because they got the results of the blood tests back. The blood tests you didn’t tell me they did.”

Janie stuttered. She hadn’t told her father that the ER had done blood tests. She wanted to protest that she hadn’t lied to him, which was half true. She had passed out in school for the second time in two weeks and had simply been trying to keep herself from passing out again.

“Want to know what they said?” Leon asked. “Congratulations. You’re pregnant.”

“What? No, that…that can’t be.”

“Well, it’s true. And you better enjoy it while you can. Because I’m gonna beat this out of you. Even if it kills you, I will beat this outta you.”

In the years to come, Janie wouldn’t know what to call it, but something happened. Adrenaline. Protection. Motherly instinct. Whatever it was, Janie struggled against Leon harder than ever. She got her own kick in, right behind her father’s knee, knocking him to the floor. Janie scrambled for the other end of the room, where she’d seen the board. She heard her father scream behind her, a scream of rage that shook her to her core.

That was the moment that there was a shift in Janie. She went from a terrified, beaten down little girl to someone she didn’t recognize. Someone who could take care of herself. She didn’t see it, but she knew her father had gotten up and was coming for her again. A familiar voice sounded in her mind.

_If you don’t put him down, he’ll kill you. Hurt him. Hurt him as bad as you can._

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Janie grabbed the board from the floor and swung blindly. She heard a loud crack, and her father screamed again, this time from pain. Janie gained enough leverage to stand up, and found her father writhing on the floor, bleeding from his forehead.

“Don’t get up.”

“You bitch! I’ll kill you…”

“No, you won’t.”

Janie lifted the board behind her head again and brought it crashing down on her father’s. The board split in two and Leon stopped moving. Janie’s adrenaline slowly started to fade. She threw the piece of the board still in her hand down and looked around.

Her father was on the floor, bleeding and likely not breathing. Her first instinct was to call 911, but that couldn’t happen. If it did, the whole story would come out. It was humiliating enough to deal with it privately. The whole world didn’t need to know.

She left the basement and went to the living room, wondering where she would go. Her life was over. She had to run somewhere. Janie remembered her mother’s directions and headed out the door.

John took his coffee cup and threw it across the room. It had been three hours, and he’d yet to come up with a plan to help Janie or get the ghost. Failure wasn’t an option. What really bothered him was not knowing what was happening to Janie at that moment. Everything inside John told him that, despite Janie’s denials, she was being hurt by that bastard. He’d done a records search on Leon Foster before coming back to his room. He hadn’t found much information, but what he did find was telling.

Two months before Sabrina Foster’s death, police had been called to her home because of a fight between her and her husband. Eleven-year-old Janie had made the call. One month later, Sabrina had filed for divorce and put a down payment on a two bedroom house. John filled in between the lines there-Sabrina was leaving Leon and taking Janie with her. Three weeks after filing for divorce, Sabrina Foster was dead. The records after Sabrina’s death were even more telling. Janie had been to the emergency room a total of five times in four years. She’d received broken bones, stitches, and mysterious bruising that the doctor noted as ‘possibly needing intervention by Child Protective Services’. CPS had been out three times in those four years, and John couldn’t decide if he was more disgusted with them or Leon. Janie had never been removed from her father’s care.

John had hunted more his share of disgusting monsters in his time. Ghosts, werewolves, djinn, too many others to name. But if his suspicions about Leon Foster were correct, John would be dealing with the biggest monster he’d ever dealt with before.

John put his research down, rubbing the space between his eyes. He was getting a major headache. He opened his eyes and a photo caught his attention. He’d left it on the nightstand, as he did every time he went on a hunt without his sons. In it, John sat on the hood of the Impala, with eight-year-old Sam on his lap and twelve-year-old Dean standing next to them. Dena, as always, looked happy and excited. Sam, on the other hand, seemed annoyed. John remembered that he and Sam had just gotten over one of their first fights when Dean suggested having Bobby take the picture. Though the memory was a good one for John, something occurred to him that he’d never considered before.

Had Sam ever been afraid of him the way Janie had been afraid of her father earlier?

A furious knock at his door shook him out of his thoughts. He answered it with a hand on his gun, only to find a crying, bloody Janie there waiting for him.

“Help me.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Help me.”

“Come on.” John helped her inside and sat her on the bed. “What happened to you?”

But Janie was crying too hard to be coherent, so John tended to her wounds and helped her calm down first. Her nose wasn’t broken, but someone ( _bastard sperm donor_ , John thought) had punched her hard enough it was swollen. There was a handprint on her cheek, and she was getting a black eye. She was still squirming on the bed like earlier at the diner, but it was much worse this time. She exhausted herself crying, and John finally went out and got her a large glass of ice water. She drank it greedily, and another disturbing thought came to John.

“Janie, have you had anything to eat or drink today?”

Janie shook her head and looked away.

John handed her what was left of the sandwich he’d gotten at the deli across the street. “You like turkey?”

“Yes.” Janie said, looking down at the floor, as if she was ashamed.

“Eat that. All of it. After you eat, take these.” John pulled two pain pills out of a bottle in his bag. “Don’t take them before you eat or it’ll make you sick. Okay?”

“Why are you helping me? You don’t even know me.” Janie asked as she took the sandwich from him.

“Because you’re in pain. Janie, no one deserves this. No one. It isn’t your fault, and I will keep you safe. Do you trust me?”

Janie didn’t know why, but she did trust him. “I trust you.”

“Okay. Eat. I’m going to the deli across the street to get you something to drink. What do you like?”

Janie feared making a request, after years of feeling lucky to even be fed enough. But this would be the final test as to whether John was really there to help her, or if he had any sort of hidden agenda. “Iced tea. Lots of ice.”

“You got it.” He said with a warm but sad smile. “I’m locking the door behind me, and I’m leaving this with you.” John put his gun on the floor beside her. “I’ll only be a few minutes, but if anyone other than me comes to that door, you don’t open it. If they get in, you don’t hesitate to shoot.”

“I won’t.” Janie said.

“I’ll be back.”

When she finally had a full stomach, Janie explained, “He dragged me from the diner and back to the house.”

“Your father?”

“Yeah. He dragged me down the basement. I thought he was going to whip me again.”

“Again? Is that why you were squirming so bad at the diner?”

Janie nodded. “Yeah. But he didn’t. He just told me he was gonna leave me down there until tomorrow.”

“Lock you in the basement? Has he done that before?”

“A couple times. He’ll leave me down there for a day or two to ‘think’ about things.” Janie said.

“So what happened? Obviously he didn’t leave you alone for long.”

“He got a phone call. A couple days ago, the nurse at school made him take me to the ER. I’d passed out twice. They ran blood tests and everything, and…” Janie swallowed, and tears threatened to fall again.

“What is it, Janie?”

“I can’t say it.” Janie said.

“Janie, come on. I promise, whatever it is, I won’t abandon you.”

Janie looked up, and the pure shame in her face made John wish he could grab her up and hold her until she recognized that she deserved someone to love and care for her. But what she said would have knocked John off his feet if he’d been standing.

“I’m pregnant.”

“Oh, Janie.” John said. “Honey, it’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Honey, all of us make mistakes. Believe me, I’ve made a ton of them…” When she looked away, a frightening puzzle piece clicked into place. “Janie…”

“He doesn’t just hit me.” Janie whispered.

John Winchester was not known for his self-control. But he thought that his friends and family would be proud of him at that moment. Janie needed calm, not rage. John hoped that her worthless father was still alive, so he could heap all of that rage onto the creature who truly deserved it.

“Janie, look at me.” John said, firmly but not unkindly.

Janie looked up at him, wondering why he hadn’t thrown her out yet.

“Janie, this is not on you. It’s on your father and your father alone. But he won’t be a problem after tonight.”

“What does that mean?” Janie asked.

“I need you to trust me. Do you?” John asked. Janie nodded, and John said, “Okay. I’m gonna take some blood from you.”

“Blood?” Janie asked.

“Blood. Everything will make sense later on. Just trust me.”

John took as much blood from Janie as was safe. He was preparing to leave, and had decided to make sure Janie understood what he had to do before he left.

“Janie? How did you get away from your dad?”

“I, um, grabbed a piece of wood that was on the floor and hit him with it as hard as I could. He kept saying he should kill me, and I was afraid he really would.” Janie said.

“Okay. You did good. Very good.” John assured her. “Listen, I’m going to your house now. When I’m done there, I’m coming to get you and we’re leaving. Is there anything you want me to get from your house?”

“Just a photo of my mom. I don’t care which one.” Janie said.

“Nothing else? No clothes, no books?”

“I don’t care about anything else.” Janie said. “Just that photo.”

“You got it.” John said. “Honey, you’re exhausted. Lay down and get some sleep. I’ll be back.”

“John? Are you gonna send my mom away?”

“Yes. I know you don’t want me to, but she can’t stay around, sweetie.”

“Please don’t. She’s all I’ve got left.” Janie begged.

John sighed. “I swear to you, I will keep you safe. I know it’s probably hard for you to trust anyone, but just trust me. I’ll make it okay for you.”

A tear fell down Janie’s cheek. “That’s what mommy said. That she’d make it okay.”

John smiled and wiped the tear away before it fell all the way down. “Maybe that’s why I’m here.”

Finally, Janie smiled.

“Get some sleep, sweetheart.”

It had been years since John put a child to bed. While Janie was hardly a child, she seemed to soak up attention that wasn’t directed at hurting her. By the time John pulled the blanket over Janie and wished her good night and sweet dreams, Janie was fast asleep.

“I’ll take care of you, honey.”

As he locked the door behind himself, making sure again that Janie was safe and the room was locked up tightly, the answer came to him. Jack and Marissa Adams. He’d been working with Jack on a hunt ten years before, where Jack had hurt his back badly enough he’d decided to quit hunting. Marissa had been a nurse at the hospital when Jack hurt his back, and the rest was history. Jack became the owner of the local hardware store, and Marissa continued to work as a nurse. John remembered something that Jack had told him the last time they’d talked.

He and Marissa were looking to foster an older child. Marissa had grown up in foster care, and knew that it was hard for older kids to find homes. Making a mental note to call them after he finished what he was doing at Leon’s, John stepped out of the truck and made his way into the house. The first sound John heard was a muffled cry from the other end of the house. It got clearer the closer John walked to it. When he realized that the basement door was shut, John felt a burst of pride towards Janie.

“Good girl.”

With one hand, John drew his gun, and with the other, he opened the door. Leon came flying out, grabbing for the first thing he could see.

“You bitch, I’ll kill you…”

Leon stopped when he heard the click of John’s gun. John noted with not a small amount of satisfaction the way Leon’s eyes bulged in fear when he realized that it wasn’t Janie standing there, but someone closer to his own size.

“I only see one bitch here right now. Get your ass back down in that basement.”


	5. Chapter 5

“I only see one bitch here right now. Get your ass back down in that basement.”

Leon immediately tried a different track. “You got to help me. Someone took my daughter…”

“Your daughter beat the shit out of you and locked you down there in the basement before running to me to keep her safe. Try again.”

“You can’t tell me what to do in my own house…”

“I told you to get your ass back down there in the basement. You have three seconds before I push you down there myself.”

Leon, stupidly in John’s mind, drew a fist back, presumably to hit John. Before it was even halfway back, John had pushed as hard as he could. Leon went tumbling back and fell down the stairs onto the floor below. John walked down, not even bothering to close the door behind him. Leon wasn’t in shape to run even if he wanted to. Leon made a noise that took John a moment to recognize. When he did, he scoffed.

“Are you _crying?_ ”

“No.” Leon said, though he looked away as he said it and sniffled.

John laughed in a way that he hadn’t in a long time. “You are. Oh, that’s gonna make this so much more fun.”

“Just, please don’t do anything…”

“Oh, no. No, no, no. You don’t get to give orders here, or beg here, you don’t get any damn say in anything right now. Got it?”

Leon scrambled into a corner and glared over to John. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because in my lifetime, I have hunted and hurt and killed some dirty sons of bitches. But you take the cake on all of them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You think you’re big and bad? Beating up on a little girl?”

“Is that what she told you?” Leon scoffed. “That I beat her up? I spanked her a few times. That’s it. She’s a mouthy, disrespectful brat.”

“Oh, she told me all about that. And all about everything else too.”

“There’s nothing else. If she told you that, she’s a filthy liar.”

“Yeah. Try to convince me of that nine months from now.”

The sheepish look that crossed Leon’s face told John all he needed to know. Leon had been caught. He looked down then back up, seemingly resigned to his fate.

“So what now? You’re gonna kill me?”

“Oh, no. That’s way too good for you.”

John got closer and closer to Leon, pulling him forward by his shirt collar. Leon immediately recognized the gesture. He’d done it to Janie in the café just before dragging her out and back to the house. Leon fought the urge to fight John as hard as he could, trying in vain to scavenge every last bit of what little dignity he still possessed.

“I have a plan.”

John spoke in a low tone, so low that had Leon not been directly in front of him, Leon probably wouldn’t have heard him. But Leon was not under any mistaken assumption that the low volume of John’s voice meant he was safe. The man was beyond pissed with him. He was ready to kill him and would do it on a moment’s notice.

“And when it comes time for that plan to happen, it’ll happen. You see, killing you is too good for you because I plan on making you suffer. Really suffer. Because you don’t know it yet, but tomorrow morning you’re going to the police and making a confession.”

Leon scoffed. “And exactly why would I do that?”

John smirked and looked to the other side of the room before quite unceremoniously dumping Leon back onto the floor. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”

“Who the hell are you talking…” Leon’s mouth gaped open wide when he saw who had come into the basement to join them. “No.”

Sabrina had only been dead for four years, but time passed differently in the afterlife. At first, everything seemed okay. She’d lived in heaven with a much younger version of Janie. It had taken nearly a week of residency in heaven to figure out why the Janie in her heaven was only five years old.

It had been the last time on Earth she’d been perfectly happy.

Over time, things began to get…strange. Sabrina didn’t need to sleep in heaven, but at times when the younger memory of Janie would be sleeping, Sabrina would hear her calling. The halls of their house were filled with pained crying and begging. _Mommy help me_ and _Mommy please come back_ became constant calls throughout the perfect little world she now lived in.

At first, Sabrina attempted to ignore it. She assumed she was just hearing things, or that perhaps Janie was just missing her on Earth and would be okay eventually. But the cries became more and more common. Her marriage to Leon had been bad for quite some time, so Janie wasn’t surprised that she didn’t hear from him. But she did wonder why she never heard _anything_ from him.

It had happened almost entirely by accident. Janie was calling her again. _Mommy please help me._ Finally, Sabrina had answered back with a thought. _Mommy loves you, baby._ Sabrina had found herself being violently ripped out of her utopian heaven and into a place she’d seen before but it took a while to recognize.

Janie’s playroom?

But, Sabrina thought, that couldn’t possibly be right. Janie’s playroom had been a bright, lovely place. She and Leon had spent months preparing to convert the drafty basement to a decent playroom for Janie. Sabrina had proposed the project in order to stop the constant stream of mice and bugs she’d found on the rare occasion she’d had to step down there. Sabrina looked around, finding tattered pieces of the wallpaper on the floor and nothing else. She’d heard a door lock and footsteps walking away before muttering under her breath.

“What in the hell happened here?”

The sound of broken sobbing from behind her had caught Sabrina’s attention. In the corner of the basement, curled into herself as if trying to escape the world, was a shaking heap of a little girl. Sabrina approached the little girl, not recognizing her at first, to see if she was alright. When she saw the girl’s face, Sabrina had nearly screamed.

“JANIE!”

Sabrina knelt down to check on Janie, but was disheartened to find that she couldn’t touch anything. Any attempt at running a hand through Janie’s hair or giving her a hug was only met with her hand going straight through whatever it touched. Sabrina had tried calling Janie’s name, finally actually screaming her name, but it was to no avail.

Sabrina finally forced herself to calm down. She took in Janie’s condition. It didn’t seem possible, but Janie seemed smaller than she had been before Sabrina died. Was she not eating? Janie was also wearing a worn skirt that was falling apart and a barely fitting t-shirt. Sabrina couldn’t be sure, but there looked to be welts on Janie’s legs. Sabrina’s rage became red hot when she finally got a look at Janie’s face. There was a handprint there, and Janie’s hair looked like it hadn’t been cleaned or brushed in quite some time.

Sabrina had been afraid that Leon was doing a bad job of caring for Janie. But the truth was so much worse. Leon was torturing Janie.

He was hurting her baby.

Out of nowhere, the lone light bulb in the basement shattered. Janie whimpered and curled even further into himself. The two lone mice in the basement also scurried around and squeaked, making Janie cry even more. Sabrina put it together and realized she had to calm down. Her rage, justified as it was, was terrifying Janie even more than she already was. Finally, Sabrina heard the source of the crying she’d been hearing for months.

“Mommy, help me.”

Sabrina took several long, deep breaths before answering. She knelt down on the floor next to Janie, hoping she wouldn’t fall through the floor. She reached out to Janie and caressed her hand, focusing intently on what she was doing. To her amazement, her hand stayed on top of Janie’s she was able to stroke her hand.

“Mommy’s here, Janie. What’s happened to you, my baby?”

That had been the first time Sabrina had appeared to Janie. Sabrina worked over the following months to become stronger, trying to find a way to help Janie get away from her father. Sabrina had actually attempted to kill Leon when she found out exactly how far he’d gone, but had been unsuccessful. She allowed her rage to manifest if Janie wasn’t in the room, but when Janie was there, her focus was entirely on comfort. Through talking with other ghosts that she found around town, she became aware of a name that could help her.

John Winchester.

From there, her plan took shape. She didn’t know how she could do it, but she appeared in places all over town. Through practice, she could appear anywhere Janie went. Near the diner, on the hiking trail just outside of town, inside Janie’s school. She would stand just far enough away from whoever appeared that they couldn’t make out who she was, then disappear. After a few months of that, John finally appeared.

Sabrina had watched the two of them carefully over the two days John had been in town. Finally being convinced that John would take care of Janie, Sabrina had focused all her energy the night before on appearing to Janie in a visible way.

All her work had paid off. Now, she got to deal with this bastard for daring to lay his filthy hands on her baby.

“It’s impossible. You’ve been dead for years.”

“Is that so, dear?” Sabrina answered sarcastically. “I didn’t know that.”

“What the…”

“You see, this is the way this is gonna go.” John pulled the two vials of Janie’s blood out of his pocket and placed them on the small table that was behind him. “Do you mind pulling the door?”

“My pleasure.”

Sabrina snapped her fingers, and the basement door snapped shut to a loud _thud!_ While Leon flinched, John didn’t move.

“You see, Leon, before I proceed to do, well, really whatever the hell I want to do to you, short of actually killing you, I’m going to tell you the truth. I’m not FBI. I hunt ghosts.”

“There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“Then tell me how your wife’s here.”   
  


Leon sputtered, looked over in the corner at Sabrina, then looked down again.

“Like I said. I hunt ghosts. And for the fist time ever, I can tell you that I really don’t want to get rid of this one.”

“Really?” Sabrina asked. “I’m honored.”

“It’s true.”

“What are you gonna do to me?”

“Me? I’m gonna make you hurt. A lot. As much as I can without killing you. Then, I’m gonna leave you alone with her.”

“Where I’ll have my own fun with you.” Sabrina said with a smirk.

“And sometime tonight, she’s going to take those vials of blood over there and smash them. The blood will hit the wall, mixed in with your own blood wherever it happens to land.”

“And then what?” Leon asked, and John could see the prospect of what was about to happen settling on him.

“Then, after a little sleep, you’re going to wake up in the morning with a completely modified memory. You’ll think that you and Janie got into a knock down, drag out fight. You killed her, while she got her own swings in, and you took her into the woods and burned her body.”

“I’m not confessing all that.”

“Oh yes, you will.” Sabrina said.

“I’ll never be able to keep that story straight.”

“You will. Because it’ll be what you think happened.”

“I see. And what if I refuse?”

“Do it. Please. Make me happy and do it.” Sabrina dared him. “I’ll be happy to send you to hell myself.”

“I think we’ve talked enough. Let’s get down to business.” John suggested.

“I agree. Janie’s asleep for the night. She won’t wake up until this piece of trash is secure.”

“Good. Will she wake up if she has a nightmare?”

“No. I figured out how to give her good dreams. All she’ll see tonight are puppies and candy.”

“Good. Let’s do this.”

Two hours later, John was back in his truck and headed back to the room. Before walking in, John used a payphone outside and made two calls. The first was to Dean, which he kept brief and to the point. Case went well, stay safe, see you soon. The other call he considered for a while before making it. He actually weighed the pros and cons of taking Janie with him. He’d always wondered what it would be like to have a daughter.

Janie Winchester. It had a nice ring to it.

But John knew it wasn’t possible. He had barely been able to care for his two relatively normal children. As much as he might care for her, he in no way at all possessed what was needed to care for an abused, pregnant teenager. The people who did were the ones he needed to call. Remembering that they were both night owls, John prayed they were still awake. He breathed a sigh of relief at Marissa’s answer.

“Are you sure about this, Marissa? This kid is pretty messed up.”

“She needs a home, John. Bring her here. You know we’ll keep her safe. Just bring her here tomorrow. We’ll take care of the rest of it when the time comes.”

John walked into the room to find Janie still sleeping in virtually the same position he’d left her in. She was a completely different child while asleep. She looked at peace. John wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a smile on her face.

“Sweet dreams, honey.”

“I’m back.”

Too many years of dealing with ghosts made it hard to truly scare John. Sabrina had come in behind him.

“Everything go according to plan?”

“He’s unconscious again. Sporting a few new bruises and minus quite a bit of blood.”

“You know, for a ghost, you’re not so bad.”

“Thanks.” Sabrina said.

“You want to wake her up?” John asked. “Go ahead and leave?”

“No.” Sabrina said. “Let her sleep. It’s been a while she had a good rest.”   
  


“Sure. I have to go pay for another night. Will you watch her?”

Sabrina nodded. She’d known this night was coming, and it was harder than she’d ever imagined. “I’ll watch over her. As long as I can.”


	6. Chapter 6

_Janie sat on the blanket, her toys that Mommy and Daddy had left for her littered all around. Mommy was sitting on the couch with a book in her hand, and Daddy was sitting next to her. He was kissing Mommy's neck and she was pushing him away and laughing._

_Janie hated being a baby sometimes. She didn't want to play on the floor with her toys. She wanted to play with Mommy and Daddy. Janie picked up her soft ball from the floor and threw it towards her parents. Daddy jumped when the ball hit him and looked towards Janie._

" _Look at you. You're gonna be a major leaguer one day."_

" _Daddy, I think she's mad we're ignoring her."_

" _Well we can fix that."_

" _Leon, wait."_

" _Wait? For wh…Oh, wow."_

_While her Mommy and Daddy were talking, Janie had decided to try walking again. Mommy and Daddy had both showed her how to do it, and it was taking Janie a while to learn. She grabbed the end of the couch and held on. She lifted her leg and put it down. She lifted her other leg and put it down too._

" _Come this way, baby girl. Come on, come to Mommy and Daddy."_

_Janie stepped towards her parents a few more times, keeping her eyes in front of her. She made it to Mommy's feet and lifted her arms._

_But something was wrong._

_Mommy wasn't there anymore. Janie had been expecting her to be there, so when she wasn't, Janie fell back onto the floor. She whimpered a little, getting ready to cry, but before she could, she heard something above her. Daddy wasn't there anymore either. Instead, it was a monster. A big, ugly monster with lots of teeth that was reaching down to eat Janie. Janie opened her mouth and screamed again…._

"Janie! Wake up, honey, come on."

Janie jumped up in bed, the memory of the monster from her dream still fresh on her mind. The scream that the baby in her dream had been trying to get out was now coming out in the real world.

"Whoa, calm down, sweetie. It's okay. You're safe."

"John?" Janie asked.

"Yeah. You're okay, honey."

Janie swallowed. "I had a bad dream."

"Yeah. I know a thing or two about those. Here, drink some water. It'll help you calm down." John suggested.

Janie took a sip and felt her heart slow down a little. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Want to talk about it?"

Janie almost said no, but decided that John had earned her trust. "I was a baby. I was learning to walk. My mom and dad were far away and I trying to get to them. But when I did, Mom disappeared and Dad was this…monster."

John sighed. "Honey, normally I would say that people don't know what real monsters are. But I think you do. And you faced one for a long time. But there's something you need to remember."

"What?"

"You _won._ You beat him."

"Is it done?" she asked.

"Almost." John said. He placed his bag on the table and sat next to her. "Your father's been arrested."

"What? You went to the police?" Janie exclaimed. "I didn't want anyone to know."

"Sweetie, calm down." John said. "I didn't go to the police. I made your dad go to the police."

"What?"

"Here." John said. "Turn the TV on."

"Police are baffled this morning as a local man, Leon Foster, came into the department late last night and confessed to the murder of his fifteen-year-old daughter Janie. Further complicating the case is the absence of a body of the teenager, yet the presence of her blood all over the basement of the house. Further information on our 6:00 broadcast."

Janie flicked the TV off. "He confessed to killing me?"

"He did." John said. "I thought about doing it myself, but I figured spending the rest of his life in prison would give him a dose of his own medicine."

"So it's over?"

"It's over." John assured her.

"Where am I gonna go?"

"I called a couple that I've known for a long time. They know the truth about the supernatural, and they've been looking to adopt an older kid for a long time. They're really excited to meet you." John said.

"Can I go with you instead?"

John hesitated but answered honestly. "If it were safe for you, I'd take you with me in a heartbeat. But I'm a pretty lousy dad, sweetie."

"You can't be as bad as mine."

"True." John conceded. "But hunting's not a life for someone who wasn't born or pushed into it. I've already pushed my youngest away from me, and my oldest is barely getting by. I don't want to go for a third strike."

"Do you…do you trust them?" Janie asked.

"Yes, I do." John said. "Kiddo, they wouldn't hurt you. All they want is to help you."

"If I'm dead, how can they adopt me?"

"You let me and Jack worry about that." John said.

"Jack?"

"Jack and Marissa. They'll be your foster parents." John said.

"I haven't been part of a family for a long time."

"Just because she's gone, doesn't mean that your mother's still not in your family." John explained. "Speaking of…" John ran a hand over his face, still surprised he was going to do this. "Janie, the reason your mother appeared all those times was because you called her."

Janie nodded. "I figured."

"So I want you to call her again. So you can say goodbye."

"You didn't get rid of her?" Janie asked.

"Not yet. Normally I wouldn't have hesitated. But you need this. So just call her. Talk to her, then we'll help her move on. Okay?"

Janie nodded. "Mommy? I need you."

Sabrina appeared in the room. It was the first time that John had noticed how much Janie looked like her mother. She was a beautiful woman. She wore a white t-shirt and jeans with a pink long sleeve sweater on the top of it. John guessed it was the outfit she'd died in. She ignored John and stared at Janie, a warm smile on her face.

"Mommy? You have to go now, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Her mother walked in front of Janie and kneeled down, placing a hand on her cheek. "You're safe now, baby. Go with John."

Janie was crying again, and grabbed her mom's arm with one hand and placed the other on her stomach. "I'm sorry."

"Shh. You have nothing to be sorry for. I told you mommy would make it okay, didn't I?"

"Yeah. You did." Janie said. "I love you, mommy."

"I love you too. Goodbye, sweetheart. Go have peace now. You deserve it." She turned to John. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." John said. "Do you need me to help you move on?"

"No. I'll go now. You can handle it from here."

With that, Janie's mother finally left. John was afraid she'd break down again, but she didn't. She took the photo in her hands and walked towards the door.

"I'm hungry. Can we go eat now?"

"You bet we can. Let's go."


	7. Chapter 7

John couldn't remember the last time he'd spent the day just…travelling. It was almost a ten-hour drive to Jack and Marissa's. While John could've easily handled that on his own, Janie was struggling with the confined space of the car, so John found himself stopping every thirty to forty-five minutes.

The day turned out to be more fun than he could ever have imagined. Janie opened up, bit by bit. There was a playground across the street from one of the diners where they stopped. John had noticed Janie looking as she ate her meal, and he finally laughed.

"You want to go play, don't you?"

Janie grinned sheepishly. "You don't mind?"

"You haven't had much fun for a while, have you?" John asked. Janie shook her head, and John sighed. "Finish eating, then you got a half hour."

For forty-five minutes afterwards, Janie seemed more like a five-year-old than a fifteen-year-old. She laughed and played, and while John was happy to see her better, regret started to rear its ugly head. Visions of a small Sam and Dean floated by. Dean being completely silent for months after Mary's death while John focused on learning to hunt the thing that killed her. Sam begging him more often than John cared to remember to just play with him or spend time with him or let him be a kid. He wondered how different things would've been if he'd spent more time thinking about spending time with Dean and Sam the same way he was spending time with Janie now.

As the day went on, Janie became quiet again. They were in the final stretch of the trip, and John found himself dreading dropping her off. The truck rumbled along, the landscape blurring together in one long streak of green. Janie's head rested against the truck window, her mind not allowing her to think of anything but the last few days. Despite the fun they'd had that day, the man in the driver's seat was virtually a stranger to her. She'd never even heard of John Milton a week earlier, and she was fairly certain that wasn't his real name. But she didn't care. He'd rescued her, pulled her out of the hell she'd been in for the last four years.

"You're quiet."

Janie jumped, and her heart started racing.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay." Janie said quietly. "I'm just not used to anyone talking nicely to me anymore."

John frowned. "I guess you're not, are you? That's all about to change." He noticed she was shaking. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"No you're not. You're shaking." John said. "You're safe now, honey."

"'m not scared." Janie murmured. "Cold."

 _Of course she's cold_ , you idiot, John thought to himself. They had left her house with nothing but the clothes on her back and a couple of photographs of her mother that Janie wanted. John slowed down a little and pointed to the floorboard in front of Janie.

"See that duffel bag right there? Open the top flap."

Janie, curious about what he was doing but not used to questioning anything, listened.

"There's some warm shirts in there. Pick one out and put it on."

"I don't want to take your clothes…" Janie protested.

"You'll freeze if you don't." John said. "Go ahead, sweetie. It's okay."

Janie picked one up she liked right away. It was bright green, her favorite color. It was way too big, fitting over more like a blanket than a shirt. She instantly relaxed, but only for a moment. The warmth only allowed her to think even more about the last week. John picked up on what her mind wandering meant right away.

"You want to talk?"

Janie shrugged. "What do I say?"

"How about how you're feeling?"

"Hurt. Scared. Embarrassed." Janie said.

"Embarrassed? Why?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Janie asked.

"Listen to me." John said. "None of this, none of it, is your fault. It is only the fault of that son of a bitch that called himself your father."

"But he is my father." Janie said.

John pulled the truck over to the side of the road, and Janie couldn't help but back up against the door as much as she could. She knew in her head he wouldn't hurt her, but years of experience had taught her to be cautious. John, aware of how anxious she was, didn't move any closer towards her, but he didn't move away either.

"Sweetheart, look. I can't convince you it wasn't your fault. But think about this. Your mother loved you so much that she came back from the grave to make sure that he couldn't hurt you anymore. To her, you were everything. If you start to doubt yourself, or you start to feel scared or alone, just think about that."

"Do you think she's still watching out for me?" Janie asked. "Even though it's over?"

"I have no doubt." John said.

Janie was silent for a moment, then asked, "This couple you're taking me to? They know…everything?"

"Jack and Marissa are friends of mine. They've always wanted to adopt an older kid. They were both foster kids their whole childhoods, and want to help make a better life for other kids in the same boat. They're good people, and they'll take care of you." John said.

"What about…?"

"They'll help you decide what to do about that." He said.

Janie sighed. "You're sons are lucky."

John laughed. "Can I tell them you said that?"

"You should call your youngest. Let him know you still care about him. It…hurts not to hear it." Janie said. "I would've taken all the beatings, all the...everything, if he'd just told me one time that he loved me. And meant it."

"I promise I'll think about it." John said. "You ready to get back on the road?"

"Sure." Janie said. "You want your shirt back when we get there?"

"No. You keep it." John said. "Let's go."

"Hey, since you pretty much know everything about me now, will you answer something for me?" Janie asked.

"Sure. What is it?"

"What's your name? Your real name?" Janie asked.

John smiled. "Winchester. John Winchester."

"Well, thank you, John Winchester."

"For what?"

"Giving me my life back." Janie said.

John smiled. "You know, I don't get thanked a lot with this job. But you're very welcome, honey. Now let's get to where we're going."

"Look, I know you've got a lot of things to do, and you probably want to get back to your son, but…" Janie sighed and looked down, still afraid to be asking for anything.

"Whatever it is, just ask. I can't promise I'll say yes, but I won't be upset you asked."

"Will you stay for a day or two? Please? Don't just drop me off and leave?"

"I'll stay for at least a day."

"Thanks." Janie looked out onto the road. "How much farther do we have?"

"About two hours if we don't stop. Are you good to go?"

Janie nodded. "Yeah. I'll be okay."

"That you will be. That I can promise you." John said. "You know, Sam used to play a game in the car. You want to try it to pass the time?"

The two hours passed quickly, and by the time the truck came to a stop, Janie was close to falling asleep. Her nerves caused her to swallow hard to avoid throwing up. She jumped when she felt someone take her hand, but it was only John.

"It's gonna be okay."

"You promise?"

"Promise. Come on."

As Janie stepped out of the car, the couple that John had brought her to stepped out of the house. They were a nice enough looking couple. The husband looked to be a little younger than John, with black hair mixed with some gray. He walked quickly but with a bit of a limp. Next to him, his wife came out wearing an apron caked in flour and wiping her hands. She was waving them over with a big smile that, Janie was surprised to find, immediately set her at ease. The wife had a calming presence that reminded Janie of her mother.

"Hi, you guys!"

"Hi, Marissa. How are you?" John asked.

"I'm good, you old coot. How are you?" Marissa asked as she hugged John and kissed his cheek.

"I'm good too. Jack?"

"It's good to see you, John. Who's this?"

"This is Janie. Janie, this is Jack and Marissa."

"Hi." Janie said quietly.

"Hi, sweetheart. Look, I wasn't sure what you liked to eat, so I made, well, a little bit of everything."

"That's an understatement. I think she cooked the whole grocery store." Jack joked.

"John told us you didn't have a lot of clothes or things like that with you." Marissa said. "There's some pajamas on the bed in the bedroom for you, and a summer dress I keep in the closet. You can sleep with that tonight, and tomorrow we'll go shopping. Get you some clothes you like. How's that sound?"

Janie was fighting back tears again, this time from gratitude. "You don't have to do all that."

"But if you'll let me, I'd like to." Marissa said.

Janie nodded. "Thank you."

"Come on. I'll show you where your room is."

As Marissa led a nervous Janie away, Jack and John stood outside. When Marissa closed the front door, Jack asked,

"So that's the kid you were telling us about?"

"Yeah." John said. "She's pretty messed up. She'll need a lot of help."

"That's what we're here for." Jack said. He laughed and told John, "I swear, it's like Marissa's been nesting. She cleaned from the time you called last night until three o'clock this morning, then again from seven to noon. She's been cooking ever since."

"Janie needs that." John said. "That bastard of a father…"

"We'll help her, John." Jack promised. "We'll give her what he didn't."

"Thanks, Jack." The front door opened and Marissa walked back out alone. "Well, I promised her I'd stay a day, so I'll go grab me a room and be back…"

"You absolutely will not, John Winchester. You're staying here and if you argue with me about it, I'll tie you up and make you stay another night."

John chuckled. "Yes, ma'am."

"Janie's washing up. You two go do the same."

"You're bossy, you know that?" Jack smirked.

"You love me anyway. Now get inside."

The following night, Janie was standing next to John's truck as he prepared to leave. She said nothing as he threw his duffel bag into the back. He walked around and stood next to her, waiting in silence for a few seconds as they both hesitated to speak first.

"I gotta go, kiddo."

"I know." Janie said.

"Hey. You'll be okay. You like Jack and Marissa, don't you?"

"Yeah. I do. It's just a lot to get used to after so long."

"So long of what?" John asked.

"Of nobody really caring about me."

John smiled. "You'll be just fine. It's okay to say no, but will you give me a hug?"

"Only if you promise two things."

"What two things?"

"One, you'll call, and two, you'll come visit."

"I can definitely promise the first. I'll try on the second." John said. "That's the best I can do."

"That'll work."

"Now where's my…?"

Before he could finish his question, Janie grabbed John in a fierce hug. John was caught off guard. After being virtually alone for so many months, and not a very affectionate man to begin with, he'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be hugged. Janie was the first to let go, and she held out something to him. It was the shirt she'd wrapped herself up in the night before.

"I told you to keep that. I meant it."

Janie nodded, and waved as he pulled out of the driveway. A part of him regretted leaving her, but he knew if he went back and let her come with him, he'd feel as if his job had never been completed. Checking the rearview mirror, he found Janie turning back and walking inside her new home.

_Six Months Later_

The letter had been a surprise, but a pleasant one. He had no idea how Janie had found him, but he hoped what she had to say was only good news.

John had called Janie only once in the six months since he'd last seen her. The hunt for Mary's killer had ramped up immediately after that, so his time had become even more restricted than usual. But two weeks after dropping Janie off, he'd made a visit to the state prison nearest her house and found what he was looking for.

Leon Foster was serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for the murder of his daughter. Through a small bribe to the guard at the prison gate, John had showed up to visit claiming to be Leon's 'brother', found out the name of Leon's bunkmate, and slipped him a note containing all the details of Leon had done to Janie. He'd called Janie that night, assuring her she was now 'completely safe' and that 'that bastard can't ever hurt anyone again'.

John ripped open the letter and finally read it.

_Hey John._

_I don't know what exactly you've been doing, but I hope you're staying safe and out of trouble (as much as you can, at least). I know you told me not to do it, but I wanted to thank you again for pulling me out of there._

_You never had a little girl, so let me tell you something about us. Some of us dream of a knight in shining armor to come save us when we're in trouble. When my mom first died, I thought my dad would eventually go back to normal. When he didn't, I started dreaming again that someone would come and save me. I started rereading all my fairy tale books and wishing that someone like that would come and help me. Well, one did. I know you told me that you don't get thanked a lot on this job. Whenever you have a bad day, just think about that. That no matter where you are, what you're doing, or how bad a time you might be having, you're my knight._

_The first few days I was here, Mom made me rest a lot (yes, I'm calling her and Jack Mom and Dad now). After about a week, we started to talk. I really didn't want to go to school in a new town while I was pregnant, so I decided to study to get my GED and start some community college courses while I figure out what I want to do. Right now, I'm still getting used to being able to do almost what I want. It's a weird feeling, but it's a good one._

_It took me a long time to decide what to do about the baby. I kept asking Mom and Dad what they thought I should do, but they wouldn't give me a definite answer. I was helping Mom clean out her bedroom closet one day, and I found some old sonograms. She told me she'd had a miscarriage and, in all likelihood, she can't have kids anymore. I thought about it for another couple days and I finally asked her and Dad if they wanted to adopt my baby. They told me they'd do it, but it had to be because I wanted it and not because I felt sorry for them or pressured to do it._

_I think I did the right thing. Even though she (and yes, it's a girl) came from that sick monster, I still love her. I feel her kicking inside me and I want to take care of her. I really do. But I'm fifteen. I want a life of some kind before I start having kids of my own. And I'm afraid that if I raise this baby, I'll put my past on her and blame her for everything Leon did to me. Like Leon blamed me when Mommy died. I can't do that to her. She deserves better. So she'll know me as her sister and Mom and Dad as her Mommy and Daddy._

_I did the right thing, right?_

_I'll let you go. I hope you're safe and that you called your youngest sometime like I said._

_Yours always,_

_Janie_

John folded the letter and stuck it inside his pocket. He was surprised when something else fell out of the envelope. It was a wallet sized photo of Janie, with Jack and Marissa. She had something that John hadn't seen too much when he'd first met her-a smile. A real, genuine smile. Despite any regret for never having taking Janie with him, he knew that he'd done the right thing.

"You did the right thing, sweetheart."

He stuck the photo in his wallet, behind a worn picture of Sam and Dean and Mary, before heading off and away from Jericho, California.


End file.
